Many of the two million rubber bands used by Royal Mail annually are dropped by postal workers in the street, where they can end up killing or hurting British wildlife. Animals get easily tangled up in the bands and injured, or if a young individual gets a band stuck around themselves it can dig into its flesh as the animal grows causing infections and serious injuries.

Royal Mail need to introduce a truly wildlife friendly alternative to the current bands. Even though Royal Mail claim the current bands are biodegradable, they can persist in the environment long enough to hurt or kill wildlife.

The bands easily enter waterways and end up in the sea, where they pose a risk to marine life. A recent survey found that the British hedgehog population has more than halved since 2000, and they are known to be injured by rubber bands. The British public are sick of seeing this litter in their streets and want Royal Mail to take action now.

Royal Mail's current advice is for the public to submit a complaint if they see a postal worker dropping a rubber band, but this is not good enough. The problem is far too widespread for this to ever work. And while Royal Mail ask their postal workers not to litter, that message is clearly not working. Royal Mail need to take responsibility for the large amount of litter they are allowing to enter the environment and come up with an alternative.